BATON ROUGE, La. – After starting the season off with six-straight run-rule victories, the LSU softball team moves up spots in the national polls, coming in at No. 8 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll and No. 7 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.
LSU has been ranked every week since the end of the 2014 season.The Tigers earned a total of 573 points in the NFCA poll. In the ESPN/USA Softball poll, the Tigers picked up 370 points and is one of five teams from the SEC in the top 10.
The Tigers kicked off the season last week and put together a total of 73 runs in six games, the most runs in any six-game stretch in program history. The Tigers got a stellar performance from sophomore Shelbi Sunseri, who hit .636 with a 1.909 slugging percentage to go along with four home runs, 14 RBI, 21 total bases, two shutouts and a 0.00 earned run average.
Graduate transfer Amanda Sanchez put together an outstanding show in her first games as an LSU Tiger. She led the squad in batting average at .692 with seven doubles, 11 RBI and 10 runs scored.
Freshman pitcher Shelby Wickersham picked up SEC Freshman of the Week after tossing the sixth no-hitter by a freshman and the second in a debut by a freshman in program history.
The Tigers are headed to the inaugural St. Pete/Clearwater Invitational this weekend and will take on ranked opponents in No. 20 Oklahoma State, No. 19 Oregon, No, 11 Texas, RV Ohio State and No. 1 Florida State. The Tigers open the weekend on Thursday at 9 a.m. CT on ESPNU with Oklahoma St.
Single-game tickets for the 2019 LSU softball season are now on sale through the LSU Ticket Office and online at LSUtix.net. For more information on the 2019 softball schedule, click here.
For all of the latest news and information on Tiger softball, visit www.lsusports.net/softball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/lsusoftball along with @lsusoftball and @BethTorina on Twitter and @lsusoftball on Instagram.
2019 USA Today / NFCA Division I
Top 25 Coaches Poll – Feb. 11
Rank, School (First-Place Votes), Points, 2019 Record, Prev. Ranking
1, Florida State (26), 787, 5-0, 1
2, UCLA (3), 768, 5-0, 2
3, Oklahoma (1), 719, 5-0, 4
4, Florida (1), 712, 5-0, 5
5, Washington (1), 665, 4-1, 3
6, Tennessee, 623, 5-0, 8
7, Alabama, 582, 5-0, 9
8, LSU, 573, 6-0, 11
9, Arizona, 517, 3-2, 7
10, Georgia, 509, 4-1, 6
11, Texas, 451, 4-0, 16
12, Arkansas, 443, 5-0, 14
13, ULL, 430, 5-0, 15
14, Arizona State, 397, 4-1, 12
15, South Carolina, 367, 3-2, 9
16, Baylor, 240, 3-2, 18
17, Michigan, 222, 3-2, 19
18, Kentucky, 216, 2-3, 13
19, Oregon, 194, 5-0, 25
20, Oklahoma State, 181, 4-1, 22
21, Auburn, 142, 3-2, 17
22, Texas A&M, 136, 4-1, 20
23, James Madison, 99, 0-0, 23
24, Indiana, 75, 5-0, RV
25, Mississippi State, 67, 4-1, 24
Receiving Votes: Oregon State (59), Minnesota (53), North Carolina State (29), California (27), Illinois (21), Notre Dame (20), Ohio State (20), Northwestern (15), Hofstra (12), Louisiana Tech (10), Loyola Marymount (7), Ole Miss (6), Utah (5), Liberty (4), North Carolina (4), Boise State (1), Cal State Fullerton (1), Texas Tech (1).
The 2019 USA Today / NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll is voted on by 32 NCAA Division I head coaches with one representing each of the NCAA’s Division I Conferences.
ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25
Rank, Team (First-Place Votes), 2019 Record, Points, Prev. Ranking
1, UCLA (17), 495, 5-0, 1
2, Florida State (2), 475, 5-0, 3
3, Oklahoma, 452, 5-0, 2
4, Florida (1), 451, 5-0, 5
5, Washington, 419, 4-1, 2
6, Tennessee, 389, 5-0, 8
7, LSU, 370, 6-0, 10
8, Alabama, 348, 5-0, 11
T9, Arizona, 327, 3-2, 6
T9, Georgia, 327, 4-1, 7
11, Arkansas, 298, 5-0, T12
12, Texas, 267, 4-0, 16
13, ULL, 236, 4-0, 18
14, South Carolina, 223, 3-2, 9
15, Michigan, 219, 3-2, 14
16, Arizona State, 216, 4-1, T12
17, Oklahoma State, 166, 4-1, 21
18, Baylor, 116, 3-2, 19
19, Texas A&M, 110, 4-1, 20
20, Auburn, 85, 3-2, 17
21, Kentucky, 79, 2-3, 15
22, Oregon, 72, 5-0, RV,
23, Ohio State, 54, 3-1, 24
24, Notre Dame, 45, 2-2, RV
25, James Madison, 38, 0-0, 22
Others receiving votes: Oregon State (34), Mississippi State (27), Illinois (26), Minnesota (26), Indiana (21), Virginia Tech (18), Northwestern (17), California (16), Louisville (9), Kansas (8), Utah (5), Ole Miss (4), Cal State Fullerton (3), Drake (3), NC State (3), North Carolina (2), Long Beach State (1)